In a capitalist system the proletariat is always in conflict with the capitalist class. During the feudal period the tension was between the feudal lords and the peasants, and in the Industrial age the struggle was between the capitalist class (the bourgeoisie) and the industrial working class (the proletariat). Class struggle originates out of the exploitation of one class by another throughout history. History progresses through this class struggle. It is this struggle between opposing classes that result in social transformation. Classical Marxism: Basic PrinciplesĪccording to Marxism, society progresses through the struggle between opposing forces. Karl Marx himself has commented on this revolutionary nature of Marxism, “The philosophers have only interpreted the world in various ways the point is to change it.” It is true that while other philosophies tried to understand the world, Marxism tried to change it. In one sense it tried to put people’s thought into reverse gear as it was a total deviation from the philosophies that came before it. It is opposed to idealist philosophy which conceptualizes a spiritual world elsewhere that influences and controls the material world.
Marxism is a materialist philosophy which tried to interpret the world based on the concrete, natural world around us and the society we live in.
